Furnace.



H. A. POPPENHU'SBN & J. VHARRIBTGTOBI.

FURNACE.v

APPLIUATION FILED 1330.24, 1909.

Patented Mar. 28, 19M.

@amm

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

H. A. POPPENHUSEN & J. HARRINGTON.

' FURNAGE.

APPLICATION FILED DEU. 24, 1909.

Paltented Maat 28; 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HERMAN A, POPPENHSEN, 0F EVANSTON, AND JOSEPH HARRINGTON, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS.

nommen.

Speeicaton of Letters Patent. I Patented Rial'. 28, 1911.

Application led Decembei'24, 1909. Serial Ho. 534,869.

.To all whom it may concern.' i

`Be it known that We, HERMAN A. Por- PENHUSEN and JOSEPH HARRINGTON, citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively., of Evanstonand Riverside, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain nevv and useful Improvements in Furnaces; and We do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an,improvement in steam boiler and other furnaces and more particularly to a furnace provided with an endless traveling' grate on which the fuel is supported and by which itis carried inwardly through the furnace during the proc- Iess of combustion.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved construction of hopper by means of which refuse fuel, such, for eX- ample, as the refus of saw mills vor box factories which comprises sawdust, short pieces of board, and sticks of wood, or any other refuse material, may'be fed to the traveling grate in such a Way as to burn efficiently. `(treat difficultyV is encountered in burning such fuel in connect-ion with a traveling grate, for the reason that with the use of the ordinary hopper, such fuel when dumped upon the Vgrate is usually compressed together in a compacted mass through which the air can not pass freely, with the result that it is almost impossible to burn it.

The improved hopper described herein is provided with a delivering member arranged to distribute fuel of the kind described upon the forward end of the traveling grate in Va loose condition, as distinguished' from a compactly, compressed'mass, so that air spaces are formed between the particles of the aggregate, -By the use of such a hopper, refuse of the' kind described may be readily and efficiently burned.

The hopper herein described is preferably used inv connection with a furnace having a deflecting arch or partition, which projects forwardly from the bridge Wall 'above the from the fuel burning at the rear end of the grate toward the front of the furnace and to 'divide the combustion space into upper and lower chambers connected with each other at the forward part of the furnace.

'In the drawings-Figure 1 is a side elevation, partially in section, of a boiler furnace provided with our improved hopper. Fig. 2 is a partial front elevation of the same. Fie'. 3 is a partial vertical section through Figi: 2 on the line 3 3 thereof.

In the drawings. A represents a boiler furnace having a bridge Wall B and front wall C. Said furnace is preferably provided with a deflccting arch D1.

E indicates au endless traveling grate supported on sets of sprocket Wheels e, e, carried on a frame F having side plates f mounted on the usual carrying Wheels f1, 1

iva-ll B Qver the traveling grate E and divides I.

the combustion space into upper and lower compartments D and D2 connected together at the front of the furnace by a passage' D3 left between the front end of the deflecting arch and the front wall C of the furnace.

G indicates an inclosed chute which may lead from the ioor above that on which the furnace is located. ,Said chute is of the width of the traveling,` grate and discharges into a hopper G1. Said hopper has end Walls g, g which are preferably formed integrally with the side plates of the grate frame. The front Wall of the hopper comprises a fixed member J which is rigidly attached to the end Walls g, g and a hinged member J1- whicn extends the entire Width of the hopper with its ends engaging with in said end Walls. This hinged member of the front wall acts as a distributing member, as Will presently appear, to loosely deliver the refuse material onto the forward end of the traveling grate in a loose condi@ tion ready for eiicient burning. Said hinged member J1 may be hinged to the venient manner. As illustrated in the drawings, the'upper edge of said hinged member J1 is provided with a series of ears y' through which is inserted a rod or shaft y'1, said rod being supported in a series of ears 5 7'2 bolted or in any other "mannerattachedA to the fixed member J of the fronbwall.

' K indicates the bottom wall of the hopper. Said bottom wall extends the width of the hopper and is curved in cross-section' in the are of the circle described by the lower end of the hinged member J 1, as indicated at la. At its rear edge is formed a horizontal ledge 761 which is located a short distance abovev the traveling Urate'E. Its forward edge'is turned upto orm a flange 7a2. To the rear of the swinging member J1 are secured a series of ribs M to which are pivotallywconnected a series of rods m which are at ached to. straps m1 embracingeecen'- 3 0 The shaft M1 is providedat one end with a pulley N which is connected by a belt N1 to a driving pulley N1 supported from the upper-Hoor. At the opposite end of the shaft M1 is secured a sprocket wheel P which is connected by a sprocket' lchain P1 to a sprocket wheel P2 keyed to 'a short shaft p1 which is journaled in a bracket p secured tothe end wail of the hopper. To said shaft p1 is keyed a spur-gear Q which, through a train of gears Q1 Q2 Q3, drives the shaft R to which the sprocket wheels e carrying the forward end'of the traveling grate are keyed.

The operation, of the device ,is asfollows The rotation of the shaft M1 from .the p ulley N2 drives the chain grate in the usual manner so as to feed it rearwardly into the furnace chamber. At the same time, vat periodica-l intervals, the swinging member J1 is caused to move rearward pushing` with "10. it as it does so the refuse material which fills the chute and the hopper. As it swings rearward `and thus pushes the material. it

y raises said material orat least that portion' v of `it which may be aiieeted by its upward' y 05 pressure and at ythe same time pushes rearward that part of the material which rests on the ledge 701 so as to' cause the same to drop off the ledge onto the rearwardly travn elinggrate. The function of the distribut- 00 ing member in this action is two-fold, that yis to say, it crowds the material lying above the bottom of the hopper upward so as to vrelieve the material on the ledge 701 from )r the pressure of the material above it, and at bo'the same time pushes the material olf the ledge, from which it falls to the grate below. The result ofthis two-fold action is to feed the refuse material .to the grate in a loosely scattered condition through which ythe air may readily pass to produce an eflicient combustion o f the material when it passes into the furnace. The forward movement of the swinging member releases the material from above and 'permits another supply to drop down onto the bottom of the hopper in posi-'75 tion to be acted upon bythe swinging member, in its next movement rearward.

In a furnace such as shown, provided with a traveling grate 'upon the front end of which the refuse material is delivered, as so above described, and which carries the fuel in a rearward direction in the furnace, the burning gases arising from the fuel burning at the rearend of said grate are deflected 4 by the arched partition D1 forwardly, so 85 that they' pass under the said arch contributing heatV thereto,- as well as passing over or through the incoming fresh fuel, subjecting the latter to both the radiation from the deiiecting arch and to the iow of saidgases, thereby providing'both heat for drying the incoming fuel and av draft for carrying ofi'- such evaporations as are necessary for drying the lincoming fuel to a degree thatI it, on

reaching the rear end of the grate, will enter '.95 into combustion at once. p i

It will be` apparent that the several details of mechanical construction shown and described herein may be variously modified without departing from the splrit ofl our invention and we do not wish to be limited to them except as pointed out in the appended claims.

' lVe claim as our invention 1.ln a furnace, inl combination with a 105 substantially horizontal, traveling, fuel-sup porting grate, the front end of which projects outside of the furnace, a hopper located above the front end of said grate, said hopper having end walls and a front -wall and 11o an opening at the rear above said, grate, a swinging member hinged to said fr ont wall, and a bottom wall curved rearwardly and upwardly from said front wall and terminating in a ledge located at a dist-ance'above 1,15 the grate whereby the fuel is caused to fall upon said' grate in a loosely scattered condition.

2. In a furnace, in combination with a substantially horizontal, traveling, fuel-suplL20 porting grate, the front end of which rojects outside of the furnace, a chute located above the front end of said grate, a hopper located below saidchute, said hopper having` end walls and a front wall and an opening at the rearl above said grate,- a swinging member hinged to said front wall vand forming the lower part thereof, and a bottom wail curved rearwardly and upwardly from said front wall substantially in the arc of the circlel described by the free end of said the presence of two Witnesses, lahis 16th/dey swinging member and terminating in a horof December A. D. 1909.

zout-al ledge located at a, distance above the HERMAN A. POPPENHUSEN. grate, whereby the fuel is caused to fall upon JOSEPH HARRINGTON. said grate in a loosely scattered condition. Witnesses: l' In testimony, that We claim the foregoing CLARENCE E. MEHLHOPE, as our invention We ax our signatures in GEORGE R. WILKINS; 

